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Eric Raymond
Eric Raymond is a recurring character in the Jem animated series. He is Jerrica Benton's business rival, who is always plotting on new ways to get his hands on Starlight Music. He is the manager and main sponsor of the Misfits, and the main villain in the series. Biography Eric Raymond was formerly Emmett Benton's main assistant until his death, where he then became the CEO of Starlight Music, sharing the company with Jerrica. He was not going to share his half, though, as he was planning to make it the biggest company in the country. Disliking her and her approach to music, he brought in his own band, The Misfits, preferring their edgier sound and style. He managed them under the label of Misfits Music, founded and owned by Harvey Gabor, Pizzazz's father, until Eric purchased it after selling all of his possessions. Eric constantly tried various schemes to take down Jem and The Holograms, but each of them failed when they were foiled by either Jem or her friends and acquaintances. He eventually submitted and gave the complete rights back to Jerrica. However, at one point during the series, Pizzazz was able to take control over Starlight and the foundation while Jerrica was on a vacation break with Riot. Not happy with the new administration, the Starlight Girls deliberately started to torment Pizzazz with their pranks. Seeing this, Eric quickly offered to buy the company from her. The "hostilities" then turned against him too, with Ba Nee asking him if he would take her to the circus whilst blowing bubble gum in his face. This finally convinced him to withdraw his offer and, as Pizzazz stormed out of the building, so did Eric.As seen in the episode The Day the Music Died Appearance Eric typically wears a gray suit with a red tie, fitting his businessman image. His hairstyle has two cowlicks that resemble devil horns, alluding to his villainous nature. Personality Eric is portrayed as a shrewd business man who is in the music industry purely for the financial gain. He formerly worked for Emmett Benton, Jerrica and Kimber's father and the founder of Starlight Music, but following Emmet's death in the pilot episode, Eric wanted to gain full control of the company. He constantly tries to outsmart Jerrica, but always underestimates her abilities. As a result, his plans generally backfire. Eric has proven to be quite ruthless at times in his bid to defeat his rivals, going as far as burning Jerrica's late mother's recordings, which earned him a slap in the face from Jerrica as a consequence. Eric is also easily stressed, increasingly more so with each consecutive failure. He is also not above violence, having once slapped Jerrica, only to be punched by Rio in return. Associates Eric hired a variety of thugs, creeps and other criminally-minded individuals to do his dirty work. These include: *Zipper and his gang to commit crimes. *Techrat, an agoraphobic inventor. *Torch and Mickey, two nonverbal blue-collar muscleheads featured in "Old Meets New". Gallery Dolls Dolleric.jpg|'Eric' doll by Integrity Toys Trivia *Eric Raymond is the tuckerized version of Christy Marx's brother, Eric Raymond Marx. *Emmett Benton personally hired Eric to aid him in his daily business affairs in Starlight Music.As seen in the episode Out of the Past. *Eric was indirectly responsible for the destruction of Starlight House.As seen in the episode The Beginning. *Despite his numerous illegal activities, he has only been placed in jail once. **There is a slight continuity error earlier in the series. He was arrested in Battle of the Bands, but told Jerrica that he bailed out toward the end of the episode. In Starbright (Part 1), he repeated this to Jerrica after she found him in her office in Starlight Music, as if he had not told her before. *Surprisingly, Jerrica used to be interested in Eric and even once used him as a way to make Rio jealous after he left for college, only to have Rio storm off (seen in a flashback while reading her father's diary). *Minx developed a brief liking to Eric, but she was probably just flirting with him to be promoted. *Even though Eric was one of the major characters in the series, and also having appeared in the books and comics, he was never produced into a doll in the original toyline. *Charlie Adler voiced Eric Raymond, Zipper and Techrat. *In the 2015 film, this character was gender-swapped into a female executive named Erica Raymond. *Eric once had the audacity to slap Jerrica in the Battle of the Bands episode. This is actually the only instance where he physically attacked someone, but Rio punched him in the face afterwards. Ironically, a season later, Jerrica slapped him back after he burned her mother's tape. *In the 80s comics, Eric was shown to be a smoker. References Category:Antagonists Category:Characters Category:Male characters Category:Recurring characters Category:Villains